Running Dry

I’ve been slowing down on ideas recently. So, how about some help from you.  Got any interesting stories or issues you think would work for a Spotlight programme?  Maybe you know of a great website full of interesting ideas you think we at Specialised English should know about?  Leave a comment below if you do. 

Currently I’m entertaining the idea of a programme about Micronations such as Sealand.  But is it worthy of a Spotlight programme… ?

 

 

 

 

Posted by stevemyerscough Posted in: Uncategorized Comments Off September 2008

Listener Mail

Every month Spotlight features a listener mail programme, and recently I’ve been helping to put this month’s show together.  We’ve included emails from around the world, including Ukraine, Korea and Ecuador. 

Its good to know people are listening and interacting with the programme.  The majority of the emails are simply expressing their thanks to Spotlight for helping them with their English.  Many want to know where to find more programmes and scripts, so we direct them towards the website.  Some are in response to particular programmes, and ask for more information or advice.

One letter this month was from a man from Korea wanting help.  He said his boss didn’t like him attending business meetings because his English wasn’t good enough.  Another was from a Sudanese English teacher in Saudi Arabia.  He was a Muslim and said he appreciated the ‘high humanity’ shown in the programmes. 

In some ways, it would be nice to have some more in-depth responses to particular programmes and issues, but it is good to know we are appreciated.

 

Posted by stevemyerscough Posted in: Uncategorized Comments Off August 2008

One Computer Each

I’ve been writing a programme on One Laptop Per Child.  It seemed like a good idea, but I didn’t realise how hard it would be.  Basically OLPC is an organisation that aims to sell millions of laptops to developing countries so that children can learn using their own laptops.  Elements of their design are impressive.  They use less than 2 watts, have a front lit screen to be used in sunlight, have an inbuilt webcam and have networking capabilities.  Originally they were supposed to cost 100 dollars, in reality they cost just under $200. 

In 2006 the projects founder, Nicholas Negroponte, claimed they would have sold up to 200 million by the end of 2008.  In July this year they had actually sold around 600,000.  Three key members of staff have left the project for differing reasons.  One has written at length about why he quit, seemingly now completely disillusioned by the project.  There are a number of problems with, and questions about, the project.  Like, just how essential are laptops to children who live in communities with no running water or electricity?  Even if they are useful, is it really necessary for them to have one each. Nicholas Negroponte gets around these arguments by using ridiculous analogies, like white Volvos, pencils, or just telling people they’re wrong.   Also, while everyone in the computer industry might think open source software is the best thing since sliced bread, the majority of the rest of us don’t care.  Just as long as we know how to use Word, and send an email, that’ll do.  So when OLPC went against this principle (previously one of their core five), a lot of people were not happy.  The people that were happy however were the developing nations who had been telling OLPC that they didn’t want the laptops unless they had Microsoft software.  This just goes to show what happens when you actually listen to the people you’re supposed to be helping. 

There’s much more I could say about this.  Researching it for the Spotlight programme has just made me more and more annoyed.  Writing was difficult because I had to be objective and unbiased, but I had strong feelings about the project.  Hopefully I managed to stay unbiased, while putting enough information in for listeners to make up their own mind over the validity of the project. By the way, the title of this blog, and the programme I produced, is ‘One Computer Each’, because neither ‘laptop’ nor ‘per’ are in the Specialised English vocabulary list.

So, if Negroponte is to be believed, OLPC will be selling a million laptops a month sometime this year.  I’ll believe that when I see it.

Posted by stevemyerscough Posted in: Uncategorized Comments Off August 2008

My First Programme

So, been here a few weeks now.  Finished my first programme and at various stages of progression with three others. 

My first programme was about some schools in Israel where Jewish and Arab children are taught side by side and in both language.  The school is split 50:50 right down the middle, including two teachers in each class and a Jewish and Arab headteacher.  They have had huge success in seeing the children mix and learn about each others culture. 

I thought this an interesting and uplifting subject for a programme.  I brought two main messages out of the programme.  The first that religions should not be a barrier or a cause for fighting. The other was that people should treat their neighbour as they would like to be treated.  This is clearly a core Christian belief, but i also found that nearly all world religions also have a similar command.  I therefore did not shy away from saying that Christians were just one group that believed this.   I don’t think we should be scared of admitting that Christians are not alone in some of the things we believe.  I think if we behave with integrity in stating these things, that can only add authority and respect for our work.  There are plenty of other things where Christians are truly distinctive.

Having said that I’m now working on a programme about some particular Christian organisations.  I hope to highlight the extraordinary work they are doing, all in the name of Christ.

(The Isreal programme is entitled Schools United: Hand in Hand, and will be broadcast and uploaded to the website in mid August) 

Posted by stevemyerscough Posted in: Uncategorized Comments Off July 2008

Spotlight Annual Conference

Every year the three teams that work on the Spotlight programmes get together to discuss life, the universe and everything.    This year’s hot topic was the website, which we were told was receiving remarkable numbers of hits - around 20,000 a month.  Thanks to the wonders of google we were also able find out a bit of who it was that was visiting the sites.  The three largest blobs on our world map of site visitors were in Ecuador, Vietnam and Slovakia.  This was news to many of us and showed that our web site was more than just a complemantary addition to the radio broadcasts.  Our website was reaching people where our programmes aren’t even on the air.  With that in mind it was good to also see the progress of our new website being worked on by our partner in Chicago, Back to God Hour Ministries International (proposed launch Sept 08). 

For me the conference, which also included discussion and training in specialised English, was a great chance to meet the rest of the Spotlight team.  Except for the conference, all our communication is normally done over instant messenger, which (call me quaint and old fashioned but) doesn’t quite match face to face conversations.  Plus it was in Chicago. Not bad having only finished my university course a few weeks before.

As well as the meeting and discussions we also had a bit of time to eat lots of food, take a tour of chicago by boat and help redecorate a community centre.

All in all we spent a week in Chicago, as well as a day in Grand Rapids, Michigan, where Words of Hope the other part of the Spotlight trinity is based.  It was a great encouragement to me to here about the reach that the Specialised English programme is having, and to realise that I am coming on board at what seems a very interesting time.

 

Posted by stevemyerscough Posted in: Uncategorized Comments Off July 2008

A Beginner’s Beginners’ Guide to SE

For those that don’t know anything about Specialised English or Spotlight Radio, don’t worry I know exactly how you feel.

I’ve just started doing this job myself and am slowly learning all that it takes to write and produce the programmes.  They get broadcast overseas to listeners who have, or wish to have, English as a second language.  That’s why Specialised English is used to make the programmes understandable to the listeners.  This has a limited vocabulary of 1500 words, as opposed to the average listener’s vocab of nearer 30,000 words.  It also means the programmes are voiced at a mere ninety words a minute, that’s about half normal speaking speed.

This week for me has been about meeting all the people from various departments here at Feba’s Worthing office, exploring this seaside town and getting used to working life here.  Training continues for me on the Spotlight programmes, including learning how to voice a programme at half normal speed without sounding like a patronising children’s entertainer or monolingual English tourist.

The job did come with at least one nice perk though – the chance to meet our co-producers in the States at Spotlight’s annual conference, this time held in Chicago. More on that to follow…

Posted by stevemyerscough Posted in: Spotlight 1 Comment » July 2008